Yellow Mud

"Yo~ Everyone, where are you taking Konoha's Washboard Princess?"

Rinto raised his head slowly, his tone teasing, a half-smile on his face.

Hearing that familiar voice and tone, Tsunade, who had been pretending to be unconscious, felt her vision go dark.

Why was it this guy?

Damn it, he actually called me Washboard Princess!!!

Tsunade, who hated that nickname most of all, was so furious that she gritted her teeth and trembled all over, nearly forgetting that she had been kidnapped.

Bastard!

One day, I'll grow super huge! I'll blind your dog eyes!

While Tsunade cursed Rinto in her heart, Rinto, the target of those curses, looked at the three men before him, and his heart gradually sank.

The three men wore the most ordinary civilian clothes and stood before Rinto in a horn-shaped formation.

Although Rinto was not a Sensory Ninja, he could tell from their presence alone that these three were no pushovers.

Tch! Three Jonin. This was going to be troublesome.

With his powerful explosive strength, he could easily deal with one Jonin.

Against two Jonin, he could barely win by relying on a few tricks and the advantages granted by his immortal body.

But once the number of Jonin rose to three, things became extremely difficult.

The three could support one another and use intersecting area-of-effect ninjutsu to restrain his attacks.

Moreover, those who could become Jonin had virtually no weaknesses, and their combat experience was especially rich.

In the blink of an eye, a plan formed in his mind.

Just as Rinto was thinking, a streak of blue-violet lightning suddenly shot toward him.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

Rinto immediately frowned, and his figure vanished from the spot in an instant, causing the sneaky lightning strike to miss.

"Damn, you're ambushing me?! You can't afford to play, you little piece of trash!"

From a tree branch several meters away, Rinto looked down at the three with open disdain.

"His explosive strength is immense. He's no ordinary brat!"

Kinoe's face was as dark as water. Ignoring Rinto, his gaze swept over the ground where Rinto had just stood, and he added rapidly, "Strong body, taijutsu type! Keep your distance as much as possible. Second Brother and I will hold him back. Third Brother, secure the hostage first, then come help us. Plan Two! End this quickly."

After speaking at high speed, the three nodded together and scattered in an instant.

Rinto did not try to stop them.

It was not that he did not want to, but that he could not.

When the three had gathered together just now, it had seemed like the perfect chance to take them all out at once. In truth, there had been no opportunity to strike.

If he had rashly charged in and endured their ninjutsu head-on, whether he could reduce their numbers aside, exposing his immortal body would have been almost inevitable.

And his immortal body, one of Rinto's trump cards—

It could only be exposed when he was absolutely certain he could take one of them out.

Across from him, C, carrying Tsunade, flashed away to the edge of the battlefield, far from Rinto.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." Three silver-white iron rods stabbed into the ground in a triangular formation.

C flexed his arm and roughly threw Tsunade onto the ground in the middle of the triangle. Looking down at the silent Tsunade, who was still pretending to be dead, he sneered.

"Heh~ No need to keep pretending. Your heartbeat gave you away long ago." With a contemptuous sneer on his face, C rapidly formed hand seals.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Binding!"

With a crackle, a streak of blue lightning leaped from C's fingertips and struck the three iron rods in an instant. Blue curtains of light appeared between the rods, forming three sides of a cage.

At once, faint crackling electrical sounds rang out without end.

Seeing C use ninjutsu to trap her, Tsunade stopped pretending. She quickly rose to her feet, her face filled with seriousness.

A hundred meters away, Rinto dodged one Earth Style and Fire Style attack after another. His gaze swept over Tsunade, and his heart sank to rock bottom.

Damn it, why did this girl wake up? How am I supposed to pull off some flashy moves with my immortal body now?

He could kill the three kidnappers to silence them, but there was no way he could silence Tsunade too!

Just as Rinto was distracted, the ground beneath his feet suddenly turned slick.

Rinto instinctively looked down, and his heart skipped a beat.

Crap! Yellow Mud Swamp! Are you really trying to stuff yellow mud into my crotch?

Not far away, Kinoe knelt on one knee, his hands forming the Tiger seal as he stared at Rinto with a serious expression.

Damn! Three Jonin really were troublesome!

As he cursed inwardly, a ball of wind filled with Chakra suddenly shot toward Rinto from another direction.

At that instant, Rinto rapidly formed hand seals.

"Substitution Technique!"

With an explosive bang, the ball of wind shredded the substitute log into splinters that filled the sky.

Rinto narrowly avoided the Wind Style attack and appeared in a distant tree, wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead.

"That was close, that was close. You guys really do work well together!"

Hearing Rinto's praise, Kinoe's expression did not change. He glanced at the dense cracks in the stone wall beside him, but inwardly he was deeply shocked.

This brat had once again overturned his expectations.

Not only was his physical ability absurdly powerful, but his Substitution Technique was incredibly proficient as well!

Damn it, he looked no older than ten. Where had he found so much time to train?

When Kinoe had been ten, he had still been an inexperienced Genin. Yet this brat was actually fighting evenly against two experienced Jonin.

If Kinoe had not been extremely proficient with Earth Style: Earth Return, this guy might have succeeded in ambushing him.

Still, he did not believe Rinto's stamina could remain at its peak forever. As long as the brat grew tired, their side would have an opportunity.

On the other side of the battlefield, C looked at Tsunade's cold expression inside the cage. A cruel smile tugged at his lips as he mocked, "Is Konoha's princess really this cold-blooded? You're just going to watch your village companion risk his life? You're not worried at all?"

Tsunade said nothing. She continued watching the battle with an icy expression, repeating to herself over and over.

Sakuta Rinto was a spy sent by Amegakure. He wasn't a village companion. Not a companion. Not a companion.

At that moment, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. Rinto's ambush succeeded, and he instantly blew Kinoe's head apart.

But before Rinto could react, Kinoe's body turned into a clay clone and wrapped around him.

Then, a swift wind blade pierced through Rinto's left shoulder joint, spraying blood into the air.

Seeing this, Tsunade cried out and rushed toward Rinto without thinking.

But after only two steps, the blue curtains of light between the iron rods suddenly brightened. Accompanied by a piercing crackle, Tsunade's entire body went numb from the electricity, and she collapsed to the ground.

Watching Rinto fall into desperate danger, Tsunade could no longer convince herself otherwise. Hiruzen Sarutobi's words echoed endlessly in her mind.

When all was said and done, he was just a pitiful guy!

Just a pitiful guy!

A pitiful guy.

At that thought, Tsunade could no longer hold back her freely flowing tears. She desperately raised her head from the dirt.

"Sakuta Rinto, run! Get out of here!

Aren't you... still going to protect... protect your little sister? How can you die here?!"

Tsunade choked on her sobs, her voice growing softer and softer.

Hearing Tsunade's desperate shout, Rinto froze for a rare moment and instinctively looked in her direction.

How did this girl know I wanted to protect my little sister?

Oh man~ Was it Hiruzen Sarutobi?

Why can't any of you keep your mouths shut?

Seeing Rinto lapse into a brief daze, C, who had been secretly watching him from in front of Tsunade, immediately brightened.

"An opening!"

C used the Body Flicker Technique to rapidly close in on Rinto while forming hand seals at high speed.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

In an instant, a blue-violet bolt struck Rinto and pierced through his chest.

"Got him!" Kinoe, B, and C rejoiced at the same time.

At that moment, Rinto suddenly went bang and transformed into a log that fell to the ground.

"Not good, Substitution Technique! Watch for an ambush!" Kinoe immediately shouted anxiously.

Before his words had even faded, Rinto appeared behind C, his tightly clenched fist swinging heavily toward the back of C's head.

"Third Brother, watch out!" Kinoe cried out and instantly formed hand seals.

In the blink of an eye, the earth shook, and a massive earthen wall rose up between Rinto and C.

At the same time, C did not hesitate in the slightest, nor did he look back. He lunged forward with all his strength.

Staying away from that beastly brat was the shared understanding of all three of them.

What he did not know was that at that very moment, he was only one step away from the log used for Rinto's Substitution Technique.

Seizing the opportunity, Kinoe and B unleashed large-scale area-of-effect ninjutsu at Rinto, who was blocked by the earthen wall.

This time, they would completely kill Rinto.